When reading Part I (pg 7-61) of Pink's "A Whole New Mind," you should consider the following:
1. What is L-Directed and R-Directed Thinking? Does my subject require more of one than the other? How could I try and reach a balance?
L-Directed thinking is a form of thinking that is characteristic to the left side of the brain. This includes analytic, sequential, functional, etc. R-Directed thinking, on the other hand, is a form of thinking that is characteristic to the right brain. This includes metaphorical, aesthetic, contextual, etc. As an elementary school teacher, I teach numerous subjects such as writing, reading, math, science, and social studies. I feel that each subject is different in its L- vs. R-directed thinking. Math and science I feel has a much more R-Directed thinking stance because it requires more analysis and sequencing versus social studies and writing, which is much more L-Directed thinking due to its less linear methods of operation and more creative ways of thinking.
2. How do Abundance, Asia, and Automation affect the dominance of L-Directed thinking in business and schools?
Abundance affects the dominance of L-Directed thinking because when people buy too much, people throw away what they need. So instead of focusing on what we logically need, we think about what is aesthetically pleasing, which is more appealing to R-brain thinking. With Asia, there are L-brain workers overseas who are much more likely to get hired because it costs more to hire L-brained workers (i.e. engineers) from the United States. Also, these workers use R-brain techniques such as forging relationships, which affects the dominance of L-directed thinking in business. Automation affects the dominance of L-directed thinking because technology seems to be replacing human left brains. Thus, this "boosts the significance of beauty and emotion, as well as accelerates individuals' search for meaning" (p. 46).
3. What is High Concept and High Touch. What is the impact of this on my teaching?
High concept is the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty, detect patterns and opportunities, etc. High touch is empathy, understanding subtleties of human interaction, etc. These concepts greatly impact my teaching. I try to make sure that as a teacher, I am not only having students understand educational concepts to enrich themselves as learners, but foster experiences that allow them to grow as people. I want to make sure that I am utilizing both left brain and right brain concepts within my teaching.
4. What are the flaws of an education system that only values IQ? Is there also a role for EQ in education?
The flaws of this type of educational system are that these only appeal to left brain learners. This educational system does not seem to take personal characteristics and emotions into account and also value logic over emotion. I feel that EQ is extremely important. It drives the way a person expresses themselves and the way they learn, which is exponentially important because this determines how students learn in school. I want to make sure that in my classroom, both logic and emotion are strongly embraced throughout the curriculum.
Tori, I appreicate that you acknowledge that as teachers we need to be aware of how our students learn. This will not be the same for everybody, so paying close attention to how our students express themselves and the personal characteristics they possess is key. If we know how each of our individual students learn best, we'll be more effective as educators.
ReplyDeleteTori and Bernice,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with both of you about being extremely aware of how our students learn. It is so important, not only to determine what we need to teach our students, but also how we will teach it, in order to reach our students most effectively. It is our job to provide an environment that allows each student to capitalize on their strengths as learners.
You are very right that our current educational model overemphasizes left-brain thinking and learning. There is a new model in the sciences called STEAM; this is taking the old STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and adding Art to the mix to balance out the thinking and give rise to right-brain thinkers in traditionally left-brain fields.
ReplyDeleteI like that you state EQ drives how a person learns and how they express themselves. Communication is vital. Without EQ development a student will have difficulty communicating and thus learning.
ReplyDelete